Played new Seagull steel & Nylon ukulele

M3Ukulele

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To my surprise I ran into the new Seagull steel string ukulele yesterday at guitar store. First, they had both steel string and nylon strung version. Second, build as you expect was great. The sound was on the quiet side. These were both soprano size. That surprised me. The Guitar tech told me they were concert but I made him grab a tape and they were soprano. Fretboard was cantelevered. Looked to me like body was solid and perhaps carved out with spruce top. Sunburst was excellent. Can’t comment on how I liked playing it because it was soprano and I only play tenor. The Fretboard was cramped to me. I’d love to try a tenor size and of course try it plugged in. Very interesting.
 

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Thanks for sharing this info. I am eager to see if they develop a full line of ukes or if this will be sort of a one-off like the Merlin or the (Godin) Multi-Uke.

Can you tell us if either of them was tuned re-entrant or linear? It's hard to tell from the photos.
 
The tuners were excellent. Two on a plate. Zero fret with tusk saddle that was compensated. The body and neck looked like one piece. That is what made me think body/neck were one piece with spruce top and body carved. Build looked great, the ukulele felt very solid in my hands I only had brief time to play but they were both cool. Steel was more in tune as nylon was still settling in. I’d probably put flurocarbon on immediately. I think it’s something you’d want to play plugged in. I’d like to play tenor if they build it. Not sure what Seagull plans are for this model as others have found out, very little info on line. Guitar store was had no info at all.
 
Both were tuned high g. This model looked a lot like their new man do line. I wonder if this is one of also. I was surprised it was soprano
 
Picture from bac which show the one piece body neck.F8A72F44-20A2-43F7-8D94-11ADA99BF055.jpg
 
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I found this short video tease from the company:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k_cyDt-gRQ

I'd love to hear a demo showing both the steel and nylon versions playing the same song(s).
 
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This interests me, thanks for posting. I have been a long time fan of Seagull (and the entire Godin family) guitars.
 
Cantilevered fretboard?
 
Radiused fretboard perhaps?

A cantilevered fretboard is when the fretboard sits above the soundboard, rather than on it. David Ingalls does this in his Ono builds, as does Compass Rose (Rick Turner). The theory being the top can move more freely.
 
Learned something new, thanks! I seen this before, just didn't know the name for it. A good amount of jazz guitars are like this.
 
A cantilevered fretboard is when the fretboard sits above the soundboard, rather than on it. David Ingalls does this in his Ono builds, as does Compass Rose (Rick Turner). The theory being the top can move more freely.

Ah a bit like on a cello
 
I meant to get a shot of the cantilevered fret board. It’s not a big gap but it’s there. Cool instrument but I need bigger tenor size. Fretboard was too tiny for my hands. Still waiting to see if there are more or if these or only soprano
 
I meant to get a shot of the cantilevered fret board. It’s not a big gap but it’s there. Cool instrument but I need bigger tenor size. Fretboard was too tiny for my hands. Still waiting to see if there are more or if these or only soprano

Thanks again for all the info and photos.

The video that Ukulele Eddie linked to is fellow UU member Dominator, who has not posted on UU for some time, and it's nice to see that yet another a UU member (you - M3Ukulele) has had a chance to get hands-on with one of these new Seagull ukes.

Maybe we can ask Dominator to also post his thoughts after having played one of these?
 
Thanks again for all the info and photos.

The video that Ukulele Eddie linked to is fellow UU member Dominator, who has not posted on UU for some time, and it's nice to see that yet another a UU member (you - M3Ukulele) has had a chance to get hands-on with one of these new Seagull ukes.

Maybe we can ask Dominator to also post his thoughts after having played one of these?

Booli, while the person certainly bears a resemblance to a beardless Dominator, it is not Dom (and I confirmed this with him). But I'm hoping to hear more from others who get to try this out. If it were a concert, I would likely be clicking "buy". At $399 street price, it seems like a reasonable buy, but I'd want to try one in person given the shorter scale.
 
Booli, while the person certainly bears a resemblance to a beardless Dominator, it is not Dom (and I confirmed this with him). But I'm hoping to hear more from others who get to try this out. If it were a concert, I would likely be clicking "buy". At $399 street price, it seems like a reasonable buy, but I'd want to try one in person given the shorter scale.

Yes, for me and at that price, I'd like to see a tenor and/or concert option as I have little use for, and infrequently spend time on soprano scale.

Also...

Here is Dom without a beard:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ihqvcCywho

[Part 1 of 2...continued in next post]
 
[Part 2 of 2...continued from previous post, as you cannot have 2 vids in same comment]

and he looks a lot like the player in this video to me:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k_cyDt-gRQ

if not the same person, maybe either I'm cross-eyed, or he has a doppelganger. :)
 
Just wondering if any one else had a chance to play one of these? I was considering getting a nylon string version.This will be a bit of a go at an electric uke for me so it won't be my main player.
 
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